Recommended Articles

Police should bust public pot smokers

The cops should ticket those who smoke marijuana in plain sight, just as they would for public drinking.

By The Denver Post Editorial Board

Posted:
08/02/2013 03:32:24 PM MDT

Updated:
08/03/2013 09:03:10 AM MDT

An man smokes marijuana during a pro-pot rally in Denver's Civic Center on April 20, 2010. (Denver Post file)

Remember what supporters of Amendment 64 called themselves? They were the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. Fair enough. Well, here's something you can't do with booze: Swill it on sidewalks or in city parks.

If you do, you'll be ticketed — or at least you will in Denver if a police officer spots you. As The Denver Post's John Ingold reported Friday, "Officers wrote 651 tickets for public consumption of alcohol or possession of alcohol in parks in the first six months of 2013."

And the tally this year for the public puffing on pot? Just 20 citations.

Now it may be that a lot more drinking is going on than marijuana consumption. But that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in and around downtown, where the scent of burning marijuana is not unusual and 20 citations could be written in a day. And even though we've been strong advocates of implementing the provisions of Amendment 64 and keeping the federal government's nose out of Colorado's business, we also think it's important that cannabis use be kept out of public sight.

Not that there is anything contradictory in those views. Amendment 64 very clearly warns, "Nothing in section shall permit consumption that is conducted openly and publicly or in a manner that endangers others." The passage of Amendment 64 was not a signal that anything goes in public — any more than the opening of retail marijuana outlets next year will be.

Advertisement

It's hard to tell whether open use of marijuana has spiked since possession of up to 1 ounce became legal this year. Whether it has or not, however, public consumption clearly increased in some locales as medical marijuana moved into dispensaries and attitudes toward pot evolved.

And it's important that this behavior not become accepted as part of the street scene in Denver or other towns in Colorado. People who don't use pot generally don't want to be subjected to its smoke.

And since the law is on their side, it should be enforced.

We realize Denver voters approved a measure several years ago classifying small-scale marijuana offenses as "the city's lowest law enforcement priority." But that shouldn't prevent officers from ticketing obvious pot infractions they see. After all, we doubt that ticketing public booze consumption is a particularly high priority, either, and yet officers don't appear terribly shy about issuing those citations.

Another important consideration: Of the 10 largest cities in Colorado, Denver is the only one that will allow retail outlets beginning early next year. Denver must not allow the rest of the state — and country — to interpret its welcoming retail outlets as an endorsement of free-wheeling public consumption, too.